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Realtor-BSP leader's murder: Three suspects held from Haryana

New Delhi/Chandigarh, March 28 IANS | 2 years ago

Two days after realtor and former BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj was killed at his Delhi farmhouse, Delhi Police picked up three persons and recovered a car from Haryana's Jind, police sources said Thursday.

"Three persons -- identified as Narinder, Anil and Dharamvir -- were picked up from a house in Bakshi Mohalla in Jind by a joint team of Delhi and Haryana Police. The Delhi Police team arrived Thursday," Om Singh Balhara, deputy superintendent of police (Jind) said.

A raid was carried out at the house of Narinder, said Balhara, adding that a Santro car was also recovered during the raid.

Senior Delhi Police officers, however, were tight-lipped, saying no arrests had yet been made.

"No arrests have been made. We are investigating the matter," Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma said in Delhi Thursday.

A Delhi Police officer, however, on condition of anonymity, told IANS that more than eight men had been detained on suspicion.

"The three people, who were picked up from Jind, have been detained. Police are yet to confirm that these men were involved in the shooting of Deepak Bhardwaj," an officer said.

Police are also questioning Bhardwaj's wife Ramesh Kumari and younger son Nitesh, 32, along with over 20 people, the officer said.

Kumari and Bhardawaj had not been co-habiting for some years; she had been living with her son Nitesh at his Dwarka flat.

Nitesh had filed a police case against his father some months ago; in turn, the 62-year-old Bhardwaj had also lodged a complaint against his son.

The police officer said the family had been embroiled in dispute over property. Bhardwaj is survived also by an older son, Hitesh, 35.

Police are also investigating the possible involvement in the murder of Bhardwaj's woman friend.

Investigators are tracing recent property and business deals that Bhardwaj had engaged in; there are 25 CCTV cameras installed inside the farmhouse that are now under police scrutiny, and footage captured over the last month is being monitored.

Bhardwaj's phone call details are also being collated.

Police have impounded 15 grey Skoda cars from north and northwest Delhi, but were yet to confirm if the vehicle used in the crime had been found.

"Raids are continuing at different places in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh," the officer said.

The real estate dealer Bhardwaj, the richest candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls with declared assets of over Rs.600 crore, was shot dead March 26 around 9 a.m. by unidentified men in his south Delhi's Rajokri-based 35-acre farmhouse, 'The Nitesh'.

The two suspected killers, along with an accomplice, fled in a Skoda with a fake registration number.

A post-mortem report revealed that the bullets had hit Bhardwaj's head and chest.

The killers had entered the farmhouse on the pretext of meeting Bhardwaj to book a hotel in the farmhouse complex.